In my session at Agile 2015, (Agile Hiring: It’s a Team Sport) one participant asked me if I hire contractors the same way I hire employees. I do. I use the same approaches for reviewing resumes, phone screens, interviews and decisions. The one difference is the offer—instead of a yearly salary paid in some form …

I retweeted a link to Here’s a Thing: There’s No Correlation Between a College Degree and Coding Ability. I was a bit surprised by some of the reactions to that link. One colleague said, “I question whether people who wait until a college assignment to learn to code have the same obsessive interest in the topic.” …

Have you seen Nick Korbel’s series about hiring techies? See On Hiring Techies. There are several posts: Evaluate Potential, Not Accomplishments. He’s talking about evaluating qualities, preferences, and non-technical skills. Coding Challenge: A pre-interview audition. The cool thing is that they then discuss the audition in the interview. The Team Interview. I dislike panel interviews. …

In the blogosphere and in the press, there is an increasing notice about the lack of women in technical fields and management positions. Here is some data: Why women leave tech: what the research says by Sue Gardner. Read Visualizing Silicon Valley’s Lack of Diversity. Notice that tech is overwhelmingly white and male. It does …

Do you read Rob Lambert’s Social Tester? He’s been blogging about his experiences finding candidates. Some of my favorites: Certifications are Creating Lazy Hiring Managers Here is a quote from that post: You cannot presume someone with a certification is a talented tester. You also cannot presume someone with no certification is a rubbish tester. …

I just finished Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs, by Peter Capelli. It’s a terrific read, all about the reasons hiring managers and companies have trouble finding people, and why job seekers have trouble getting in the door. It’s related to John Sumser’s series, the Hiring Paradox. I’ve never believed that there is a war …

I just saw this factoid on Twitter: “Did you know that 62% of jobs are posted to niche job sites? Are you missing out on these job top boards?” from SmartRecruiters. (Thanks, SmartRecruiters!) I had no idea it was that high. They link to Best 50 Niche Job Boards. In addition, look at the comments. …

I just read Social Media is Paralyzing HR. (Hat tip to John Sumser, @JohnSumser who tweeted it.) I sympathize with Paul, who is sympathizing with HR. Let me tell you what I see in too many small to medium size companies: One lonely HR person who is trying to do: All the recruiting for all …

I have a post, What’s the Culture on Your Project? that discusses the project issues of the Romney campaign. But there is a deeper issue. If you read the comments in The Romney Campaign was a Consultant Con Job, there is an insightful comment from someone named redcal: who you hire to do the job …

One of the things that’s so hard about hiring these days is that it’s so dependent on your personal network. LinkedIn is part of your network. Twitter has to be a part of your network. As part of the updated hiring book, I have a section devoted to networking with Twitter. I thought I’d test …